For those of us involved in building healthy online communities, or indeed anyone just curious of where the social web will go, the emerging science of social networks is fascinating. Tim touched on an aspect of this his last post and as practitioners we are all learning - both from academia (see Duncan Watts Six Degrees - the Science of Connected Age) and from real lessons on the ground.

Well, I guess it was just a matter of time... ever more sophisticated consumers looking to exercise their economic muscle and progressive companies providing them with the platform to do so. 

We have talked about the rise in consumer power before; what is new are the brands that have not just seen the writing on the wall but turned this into a positive. 

What strange and exhilarating times we live in...  this "internet connectivity thing" in the early 21st century I mean.